The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation celebrated the 11th anniversary of the inauguration of the first metro train in the Capital, on Tuesday at Metro Bhawan.
All DMRC directors, officials and guests posed in front of a life-size flex board of a train.
“We are missing E. Sreedharan [former Delhi Metro managing director] today,” said a metro official on Tuesday.
“The exit of the iconic Dr. Sreedharan has brought in challenges that the new MD, Mangu Singh, is handling very well,” said Anuj Dayal, the DMRC corporate communications head.
Mr. Dayal added: “Phase I and II were green fields but phase III is more tricky and tough. From phase I and II, commuters had to get down at Rajiv Chowk. In Phase II, there are two rings and we have to connect all four sides of Delhi without disturbing the city’s movement. It may pose some challenges.”
Phase III includes construction of the line from Mukundpur to Shiv Vihar, Janakpuri West to Botanical Garden, Central Secretariat to Kashmere Gate, Jahangirpuri to Badli, Badarpur to YMCA Chowk (Faridabad), Dwarka to Najafgarh and Mundka to Bahadurgarh.
Mr. Dayal denied that former Chief Minster Sheila Dikshit’s exit had made any difference to the functioning of the Metro’s administration. “We work like the army. The government may come and go, but our work carries on without interference from the government.”
He elaborated: “The reason is that every government knows the Metro is for the benefit of the people, so all governments, whether it was the BJP in 1998 at the Centre or the Congress at other times, they didn’t try to hinder our operations.”